על הבריחה והמציאה כ״זOn Flight and Finding 27
א׳
1[149] Again, it is in perfect keeping with the nature of things that invincible Virtue, bitterly vexed at men’s absurd aims—Tamar is her name—is not found by the messenger dispatched to seek her; for it is said, “And Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his shepherd the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand: and he found her not. And he asked the men of the place, ‘Where is the harlot that was at Enaim by the wayside?’ And they said, ‘There was no harlot here.’ And he returned to Judah and said, ‘I have not found her, and the men of the place say that there is no harlot here.’ And Judah said ‘Let her have them, but let us never be laughed to scorn; I have sent this kid, and thou hast not found her’ ” (Gen. 38:20–23).
ב׳
2[150] O admirable assay! O sacred test! A mind, bent on purchasing that fairest possession, piety, gave a pledge in the form of three securities or symbols, a signet ring, a cord, a staff (ibid. 18): the first, steadfastness and fidelity; the second, sequence and correspondence of word with life and life with word; the third, straight and unbending discipline, on which it is an advantage to lean.
ג׳
3[151] The mind is putting to the test whether it did well to give this pledge. What, then, is the test? To drop some bait possessed of attractive power, fame or riches or health of body, or something of this kind, and to ascertain towards which side it sinks as on a pair of scales; for should there be an inclination towards any of these, the pledge is not safe. So he sent the kid thus to recover the pledge from the woman, not with the purpose of getting it back in any case, but only if she should ever prove unworthy to retain it.
ד׳
4[152] When will she be proved such? Whenever she exchanges things that matter for things that do not, preferring counterfeits to genuine goods. Now genuine goods are fidelity, sequence and correspondence of words with acts, a standard of right discipline (as on the other hand evils are faithlessness, inconsistency, lack of discipline); while the counterfeits are all things that depend upon irrational impulse.
ה׳
5[153] He sought there and “did not find her”; for that which is morally excellent is hard or even impossible to find in a life of turmoil. And if he make careful inquiries whether there be in all the region of that which is morally excellent a soul that has played the harlot, he will be told definitely that there neither is nor was aforetime, for that there is not there any licentious one, or a wanton, or a street-walker, or one prostituting for gain the flower of her youth, or making bright what is outside by baths and cleansings while she is foul within, or in default of natural beauty painting her face as pictures are coloured, or what is called the “many-husband” pest, following after evil as though it were good, or a lover of polygamy, or dispersing herself upon a thousand different objects material and immaterial alike, or mocked and outraged by that multitude.
ו׳
6[154] He who had sent the messenger, on hearing this, being one who had put envy far from him and was of a gracious disposition, rejoices greatly and says: “Is it not my heart-felt prayer that my understanding should be a true and high-born lady, eminent for chastity and modesty and all other virtues, devoted to one husband and keeping watch with delight over the home of one, and exulting in a sole ruler? If in truth she is such an one, let her keep the things which have been given her, both discipline and the correspondence of word with life and of life with word, and the most vital of all, steadfastness and fidelity.
ז׳
7[155] But let us never be laughed to scorn in the belief that we thought our gifts unmerited; we did indeed suppose that they were presents perfectly adapted to the soul. But while I, on my part, did what one who wished to test and try a character would naturally do, when I offered a bait, and sent a messenger, that character on its part made it evident that it was by its nature no easy prey.
ח׳
8[156] But I could not tell what it is which makes one an easy prey and another not; for I have seen great numbers of the exceedingly wicked sometimes acting exactly like the very good, but not for the same reason, since one set is putting truth into practice, the other set hypocrisy: and it is hard to distinguish these two; for many a time being is outdone by seeming.”